SEBRING, Fla. — Porsche reigns supreme in the GT classes of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts once more.

For the second straight year, the German manufacturer powered the winning entries in both the GT Le Mans and GT Daytona classes. The No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 was victorious in GTLM, having the door to victory lane opened Saturday night when the two cars ahead collided with minutes remaining in the 12-hour endurance marathon at Sebring Int’l Raceway. Meanwhile in GTD, the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R paced a 1-2 Porsche finish.

It also pushed Porsche’s total of class wins in the Twelve Hours of Sebring to 100.

“I’m just happy to see a 1-2 for Porsche in GTD and Porsche winning GTLM,” said Lars Kern, a co-driver in the No. 9 Pfaff Porsche who also works as a Porsche engineer. “I think it’s just the perfect race weekend for Porsche.”

WeatherTech Porsche Capitalizes in GTLM, when BMW, Corvette Tangle

The No. 79 WeatherTech Porsche appeared destined for a third-place finish behind the No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R and the No. 25 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE. That is, until Connor De Phillippi tried to muscle the No. 25 past Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 at the turn seven hairpin with just eight minutes to go.

Both cars went off course after the collision. De Phillippi was penalized for incident responsibility, the pit-lane drive-through relegating him to a second-place finish. Garcia limped the No. 3 Corvette home in fourth. Barely able to avoid the fray in the No. 79, Mathieu Jaminet accepted the spoils and the win he shared with co-drivers Cooper MacNeil and Matt Campbell.

“Going to turn seven, I think the BMW had a chance and it looked like the Corvette didn’t close the door that much,” said Jaminet, who picked up his first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victory, coming in one of the crown jewels of endurance sports car racing. “The BMW just dove in, was maybe a little bit optimistic on the brake. When I came to the corner, they were more or less side-by-side and just touching and hitting each other. They had big contact and I had to avoid the BMW, which was going to the other side of the track. So, I went left straight in the grass. I got really lucky there because I think it was pretty close with the BMW to being a big crash. It was a little bit of a crazy fight, let’s say.”

While the No. 79 remained on the lead lap throughout the race, it didn’t seem to have enough to challenge either the No. 3 or the No. 25. The Corvette set the early pace until a radio miscommunication with driver Nicky Catsburg had him fail to pit at the right time under a full-course caution with five hours remaining.

It looked then like the No. 25’s race to win until the No. 3 made a fortuitous pit stop just before a caution with less than two hours to go. It allowed Garcia to jump back into the lead and set up the fireworks with De Phillippi.

“We were lucky to be in the right place at the right time,” Jaminet said. “Sometimes it’s part of racing. It’s a nice reward for this whole team, for the program.”

But the No. 79 Porsche persevered and won while leading only 28 laps. A customer team operated by Proton Competition beating a pair of factory-backed efforts is worth shouting about, according to MacNeil.

“I don’t think anybody would have predicted that, but that’s what hard work, perseverance and an amazing group of guys can do for you,” said MacNeil, who claimed his ninth IMSA win and second at Sebring. The first came in a Porsche in 2013, in the GTC class.

“I’m thrilled for the whole team, for the brand,” MacNeil added. “My second race in GTLM ever, to get the win, especially at Sebring against some of the best drivers in the world, top manufacturers, factory-backed efforts. We show up with a non-factory effort and a Silver driver in the car. I could not be more thrilled to get the win here at Sebring.”

The win was also the fourth straight at Sebring for a Porsche in GTLM, with the factory-backed Porsche GT Team capturing the past three.

Zacharie Robichon was worried things were going too well. But in the end, he didn’t have to worry. Laurens Vanthoor knew the No. 9 “Plaid” Porsche was good and, along with Robichon and Kern, drove it to the GTD victory.

Combined with smooth pit stops and excellent strategy, the driver trio kept the No. 9 in the hunt throughout the 12-hour race. They fended off challenges from a myriad of GTD contenders, including the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche, both Vasser Sullivan Lexuses and the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3.

In his first season of GTD competition after collecting five WeatherTech Championship GTLM wins and the 2019 championship with the Porsche GT Team, Vanthoor took over for the final race stints. The 29-year-old Belgian bumped his way past the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus and into the lead with 90 minutes remaining and wasn’t seriously challenged after that.

The No. 9 Pfaff Porsche won by 2.112 seconds over the No. 16 Wright Porsche, with the No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 placing third.

“It went really, really smooth,” Vanthoor said. “We had a really good car. We had it in Daytona as well, but we made mistakes. We did a flawless job (at Sebring) and everything went perfect. That’s the way you win races.”

Sebastien Bourdais and the No. 5 Cadillac team won in DPi.

BRISTOL, Tenn. — NASCAR Cup Series driver Austin Dillon started on the pole and led every lap to capture the 20-lap 604 Late Model feature during Saturday night’s Karl Kustoms Bristol Dirt Nationals at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Dillon took a half-second win over Ross White with Shan Smith third.

“This was a lot of fun, a blast all weekend long,” said Dillon, who won three events during the week, including a heat race and feature on Tuesday. “It was a good tune up for next weekend.”

Kyle Strickler held off NASCAR Camping World Truck Series star Matt Crafton to claim the 20-lap Modified Open race. Michael Asberry came home third with Curt Spalding fourth and Drake Troutman fifth.

The 20-lap Stock Car race was a family affair with 16-year-old Dallon Murtry beating his father Damon Murty for the win. Derrick Agee wound up third.

In the 18-lap Hornet feature, Jake Benishek was the winner with Jason Ketron second and Kyle Stark third.

The Food City Dirt Race at the dirt-transformed Bristol Motor Speedway is the first race on a dirt surface for the NASCAR Cup Series in more than 50 years. Richard Petty won the last Cup race on dirt in 1970 at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh.

SEBRING, Fla. — After struggling for two days to find speed in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling/JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac DPi-V.R — and without a properly functioning rear wing at the end of the race — Sebastien Bourdais found just enough pace Saturday night to lead his team to an improbable victory.

When the top element of the rear wing went missing shortly after a restart with 19 minutes remaining in the race, Bourdais managed to stay just far enough ahead of the field. He brought the damaged car to the finish line 1.435 seconds ahead of Harry Tincknell’s Mazda to claim the 69th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts.

Bourdais wasn’t sure what had happened when the wing broke. Before he discerned it was a problem with the car’s aerodynamics, he nearly lost control of the Cadillac.

“I’m just really lucky that I didn’t stuff it in Turn 17 before I made the adjustments,” Bourdais said. “That was a very, very close call there. At the same time, thankfully I had enough of a gap to (Tincknell) that he didn’t pass us by the time I collected myself. I didn’t know it was the rear wing until I got out of the car (in victory lane), but I knew something had happened aerodynamically.”

With his car out of shape and suddenly two seconds a lap off pace, Bourdais’ relatively comfortable lead over Tincknell dissolved into a nose-to-tail chase over Sebring Int’l Raceway’s 17-turn, 3.74-mile circuit. Tincknell challenged for the lead several times, but Bourdais didn’t relinquish.

“Every corner that was coming, I was like, ‘Man, how am I going to do this one?’” Bourdais said. “The flip side of (the broken wing) is that the car was extremely fast down the straightaway, too. I was very hard to pass there.

“I don’t know. Sometimes with the Gods of racing, you don’t know what’s happening. You just take it and move on. That was one of the most improbable situations that I’ve ever been a part of that turned out in a good way.”

As previous leaders encountered crashes and mechanical problems during the course of the race’s first 11 hours, Bourdais and his co-drivers, Loic Duval and Tristan Vautier, found their Cadillac in the lead late in the race.

That came after multiple incidents – both involving the No. 5 and other contenders – that culminated with the final 19 minutes. The No. 5 car led only 28 laps – all of them within the final 31 laps of the race – as Bourdais held off Tincknell, who co-drove the No. 55 Mazda Motorsports Mazda DPi RT24-P with Oliver Jarvis and Jonathan Bomarito.

While JDC-Miller MotorSports celebrated its unlikely overall and Daytona Prototype International (DPi) win, two teams were enjoying dominating victories in the other prototype classes.

Mikkel Jensen, Ben Keating and Scott Huffaker teamed to take the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07 to the front in Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), while Colin Braun, George Kurtz and Jon Bennett co-drove the No. 54 CORE autosport Ligier JS P320 to a win in the Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class.

The No. 5 Cadillac found itself in position to win after Scott Dixon and Connor De Phillippi collided while Dixon was heading to the pits with 70 minutes left. Dixon, who had a healthy lead in DPi at the time, and De Phillippi’s No. 25 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE made contact, breaking the toe link on Dixon’s No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R.

“It was a very late call to the pits, so I was scrambling to get everything undone in time,” Dixon said. “I was trying to get back to pit road and there was a car there. I had no other place to go. … I feel bad for the team. Everybody was doing a fantastic job. The car was fast.”

Kamui Kobayashi challenged Tincknell during the final laps in the No. 48 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi V.R he shared with Jimmie Johnson and Simon Pagenaud. However, because Pagenaud exceeded the drive time limit of no more than four hours in a six-hour period, the No. 48 was scored last in class.

That gave the third spot on the DPi podium to the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-05 co-driven by Dane Cameron, Olivier Pla and Juan Pablo Montoya.

For much of the race, the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA held a one-lap lead over the LMP2 field. But after the final restart, Jensen was chased by Ryan Dalziel, who finished just 2.587 seconds behind in the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA he co-drove with Kyle Tilley and Dwight Merriman.

“It got more exciting than we wished it to be,” Jensen said. “We were leading by more than a lap for eight hours. I was getting a little nervous (near the end of the race). The last stint was my worst one. That’s when I had to fight. It got difficult.”

The No. 54 car prevailed in LMP3 after falling far behind early in the race. Braun passed and held off Jeroen Bleekemolen in the No. 91 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 at the end.

“It was a great result for us and really fun at the end,” Braun said. “You definitely have to earn it. I think that makes it all that much more special for CORE and Crowdstrike. It’s a huge win. It gets some momentum going.”

Porsche gets 100th Sebring victory.

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Jonathan Davenport blasted from a 10th place starting place to run away with the 40-lap super late model portion of Saturday’s Karl Kustoms Bristol Dirt Nationals at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Davenport showed exactly why he’s nicknamed “Superman,” blowing by NASCAR Cup Series star Kyle Larson with 15 laps to go and racing away for a 3.5-second victory, pocketing $50,000 in the process.

Larson, who won a heat race earlier in the evening, wound up second. Dirt-racing legend Scott Bloomquist finished third followed by Bobby Pierce and Frank Ingram.

Davenport, a three-time Lucas Oil Series national champion, said Saturday night’s victory ranked near the top of his racing accomplishments.

“This ranks right up there with anything I’ve done… it’s the second or third biggest. I put so much emphasis on this race,” said Davenport. “I just love this place in general. I think it means a lot for us to be here. We’ve had this circled on the calendar for a long time. It means a lot to me.”

Chris Ferguson, who started on the pole and had won a $10,000-to-win super late model race in Friday’s Karl Kustoms Bristol Dirt Nationals, fell out of the lead early and wound up seventh.

Larson dominated a 10-lap heat race early in the evening, racing to a comfortable win. But he said he was no match for Davenport in the feature.

“It was a fun race, even finishing second. The track was really good, we were able to move around,” said Larson, who will be back on track here next weekend for the Food City Dirt Race NASCAR Cup Series race.

“Davenport was just a lot better than me. He blew my doors off and put a straightaway on me and maintained it.”

Despite starting deep in the field, Davenport was able to quickly work his way toward the front and by the half-way point he had wrestled the lead from Larson.

“You just never know how things are going to play out. I think it took me maybe 10 laps to get going good. We fired back off on a restart and I could just go by them. I knew then we had a good car,” said the 38-year-old Davenport. “Then we started along Scott (Bloomquist) on a restart, and we fired off so good. I could run wide open through the center. At that point I knew I was going to be really good on the long runs.”

NASCAR Cup star Kyle Busch, who was late arriving at the track after winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, advanced to the feature with a second-place finish in the first 10-lap last chance qualifying race.

He started 19th in the feature and wound up 11th, one lap down.

The finish:

Jonathan Davenport, Kyle Larson, Scott Bloomquist,Bobby Pierce, Frank Ingram, Donald McIntosh, Chris Ferguson, Chris Madden, Dakotah Knuckles, Joey Coulter, Kyle Busch, Coleby Frye, Jay Scott, G.R. Smith, Travis Stemler, Michael Rouse, Adam Yarbrough, Michael Chilton, Brian Nuttall Jr., Kyle Lear, Jensen Ford, Jon Hodgkiss, Brandon Overton, David Payne.

Jofra Archer will miss England's ODI series in India and the early stages of the IPL season, the ECB have confirmed.

As reported by ESPNcricinfo, Archer's elbow injury has become a growing concern for the England management over the course of the tour to India, and will be investigated further by the ECB's medical team when he returns to the UK.

It is understood that Archer's IPL franchise, Rajasthan Royals, remain optimistic about the possibility of him featuring for them this season but have accounted for him missing at least the first few matches of the league phase. The tournament starts on April 9.

"Jofra's elbow issue has deteriorated over the course of the T20I series and made it increasingly difficult for him to maintain performance levels," an ECB statement said. "He has been deemed unfit for selection for the ODI series that features matches on 23, 26 and 28 March.

"The ECB medical team will assess the player and, together with Jofra, develop a treatment plan and a return-to-play schedule in due course. As a consequence, Jofra will miss the start of this year's Indian Premier League."

England have named a 14-man squad for the ODI series, featuring nine of the squad that won the World Cup in 2019. Joe Root and Chris Woakes both flew home after the Test series and have not returned to India.

Matt Parkinson, the 24-year-old legspinner who won two caps in South Africa in February 2020, may be given an opportunity as the only player to have been with the England camp throughout their winter schedule in Sri Lanka and India, while his Lancashire team-mate Liam Livingstone is in line to make his ODI debut.

Root's absence leaves England needing to reshuffle their batting order, while Sam Billings will be given another opportunity to impress after making his maiden international hundred in their most recent ODI series, against Australia in September.

Morgan hinted ahead of the T20I series that he would use the 50-over leg of the tour to look at fringe players, and Reece Topley, the tall left-arm seamer, is likely to be handed chances at some stage.

Jake Ball, Chris Jordan and Dawid Malan will remain with the squad as reserves in case of injury or illness. England travelled to Pune from Ahmedabad on Sunday, ahead of the first ODI on Tuesday.

Further Covid cases found following European Indoor Champs in Poland as organisers claim some athletes did not follow safety procedures

Concerns over the sport’s ability to control coronavirus outbreaks have heightened in recent days after it emerged dozens of athletes and support staff have tested positive since the European Indoor Championships in Toruń.

Despite stringent safety methods at the event in Poland, the number of positive cases that have come to light has grown alarmingly.

At least 10 members of the British squad have tested positive, leading to the entire party having to isolate for 10 days on their return to the UK. At least eight Dutch athletes also tested positive, with similar numbers in the German squad, a reported 15 in the Italian team and cases among the French, Irish and Danish teams too.

As reported during the championships on March 4-7, the Polish men’s 4x400m team was forced to withdraw during the competition due to some of its members testing positive, while host nation 60m contender Ewa Swoboda tested positive on the eve of her competition.

Belgian sprinter Eline Berings, meanwhile, criticised the testing procedures after having to pull out of the semi-finals of the 60m after what was she claimed was a false positive.

World Athletics and national governing bodies such as British Athletics have raised their concerns to the organisers. But European Athletics says athletes and officials did not fully adhere to the strict health and safety protocols while they were in Poland.

European Athletics said that “together with the Local Organising Committee and the Polish health authorities, they established a strict medical and sanitary protocol”.

The governing body added: “This comprised a PCR test before traveling, a LAMP test upon arrival in Poland, with a confirmatory PCR test if needed due to a positive, then during the championships a further LAMP test as of the fifth day and finally, a PCR test for most of the countries to abide to travelling requirements.

“All athletes, plus all member federation staff, guests, volunteers, technical suppliers and event staff, a total of 1920 people, were tested according to this protocol.

“In addition, sanitary rules that stipulated a mandatory use of a mask at all times, social distancing and the washing and disinfection of hands were duly communicated to every member federation, including the need for immediate isolation and quarantine in the case of suspicious symptoms or a positive result in testing.

“Abiding to these rules was the individual responsibility of each and every person attending the event.”

European Athletics said the virus outbreak was traced back to two hotels in particular and continued: “Unfortunately the investigation also uncovered that the aforementioned strict sanitary protocol that should also have been followed in team hotels was not always fully respected.

“For example the obligatory wearing of masks at all times, except during meal times and while athletes were competing, was not respected in some hotels. This was particularly the case on the evening the competition ended and before the departure home of many teams.”

British pair Ken and Neal Skupski beat Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos to win the Mexican Open doubles title in Acapulco.

It is their third title together and first since 2019, having briefly split before reuniting this season.

"It's been a long road since we sort of broke up and got back together. It's a magic moment," said Ken Skupski.

Zverev beats Tsitsipas to claim singles title

In the singles final, second seed Alexander Zverev beat top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4 7-6 (7-3) to win his 14th ATP Tour title.

Zverev struggled early on, finding himself 4-1 down and having to save three break points that would have made it 5-1.

However, the German soon rediscovered his composure to win five straight games and take the set.

The second set was much closer, with the first eight games going with serve before Zverev broke to take a 5-4 lead, only for Tsitsipas to break straight back.

Tsitsipas then saved six break points to force a tie break, where Zverev converted his third match point to seal the win.

Wales' late defeat by France to end their Six Nations Grand Slam hopes will haunt them for years to come.

Wales will still win the title unless France beat Scotland with a bonus point and by a margin of more than 20 points on Friday, but no one thinks about that once you have lost a Grand Slam.

Unfortunately I have been in that scenario far too many times, when the Grand Slam has been on the line and England have lost. There are going to be some sleepless nights for Wales.

I still have flashbacks in my dreams to the moment Wales' Scott Gibbs scored a try in the dying seconds at Wembley to deny England a Grand Slam in 1999.

In years to come, that Welsh side will have flashbacks to coughing up the ball on 80 minutes and letting France have one last opportunity. It will haunt them - it is not a nice feeling at all.

You get reminded of it, you still see it on social media. It absolutely haunts me and will do forever.

'France are so dangerous'

France are creating some unbelievable rugby. Everybody now knows if you want to beat France you have to play a certain way and score tries.

It does not mean they are invincible, but I am convinced we are going to see a significant period of time where France are going to be very dangerous.

All of a sudden the players and coaching staff have bottled the flair that France always used to have, but combined it with the discipline and game management they never had before, and are winning these sorts of games.

Wales had total control but when France lock Paul Willemse was sent off in the 68th minute, it was as if someone pushed the red alert button in the French camp.

They started playing like their lives depended on it. With a 10-point lead for Wales, I did not see France winning it but when they got in the 22 and even before Willemse was sent off, Wales started to give multiple penalties away and lose the referee.

You thought it would go to the wire but Wales would have enough in the locker. After sealing what seemed like an unlikely win, France look so dangerous now.

'A sensational Six Nations'

During the 2020 Autumn Nations Cup, I said rugby needed a change to avoid the turgid play we were seeing.

And in this Six Nations, most of the games have been absolutely fantastic from beginning to end. There has been a lot of drama.

You might not like it because your team does not win but more often than not the games have been sensational.

Given the circumstances we are all in, rugby desperately needed the shop window of the Six Nations to be right up there. I cannot remember a Six Nations like this.

'England's fifth-place finish not acceptable'

England won the Six Nations title in 2020 and this year they have finished fifth after defeat by Ireland in their final game. None of the players will deem that acceptable.

It is not necessarily up to the fans or anybody else to decide whether that is acceptable or not. It is the players who will be desperately disappointed because they know that they are better than fifth.

Look what they did to France when they beat them in the fourth round and look what France are doing generally. England are at that level.

They are up with Wales and France so it is unacceptable that they lost three games in the Six Nations.

You cannot see England play like they played against France and all of a sudden say they are a terrible team.

How do the players and management unlock that style of England player, with that intent and capability, so it becomes the default?

I know that head coach Eddie Jones will come up with excuses and say England cannot play like that every week.

But look at New Zealand, look at France - they have intent. That is how they want to play the game.

I think England have got to work it out themselves and it comes from the top. My concern is that it is not as joined up as we are all led to believe.

I am desperately trying to work out why you would not go out in Dublin and play with the type of intensity England had against France.

The conditions were perfect against Ireland. England were missing two players - Henry Slade and Max Malins - but it was pretty much the same team.

Why was there not the intensity to take quick line-outs and tap penalties? Why were they all of a sudden hugely ill disciplined? What has changed in a week?

I think it has to come from the management but the players still have a responsibility to step up. The senior players have got a responsibility to try to rectify it with the coaching team.

Matt Dawson was speaking to BBC Sport's Becky Grey.

In a recent change, West Indies appointed opener Kraigg Brathwaite as full-time Test captain following a memorable 2-0 win in Bangladesh under his leadership. That series saw massive contributions from newcomers Kyle Mayers, Nkrumah Bonner and Joshua Da Silva, albeit some of them found a place in the side only because regulars like the then Test captain Jason Holder and the experienced Darren Bravo had opted out of the tour.

Now with Sri Lanka set to play two Tests against West Indies starting with the first game in Antigua from Sunday, Brathwaite - now permanently in charge of the side - and his team management will have Holder and Bravo back, leaving them with a happy headache.

"The two of them are quality international cricketers and we know what they can give [to the side]," he said in a media interaction. "Jason is the No. 1 allrounder in the world and Darren Bravo is a quality batsman. So they will fit in - [it will be] quite normal to be honest."

West Indies may be close to having their best side together for the Sri Lanka series, but Brathwaite wants them approach to the upcoming Tests the same way they did in Bangladesh.

"We have a good group [of players] and as I said from [the] Bangladesh [squad], the team that went there was a good team," he said. "And I think here [also] it is pretty much the same. As a team we came together nicely - we came from Bangladesh while some came from the 50-over [domestic competition], and we've gelled nicely as a team. So for me, it is the pretty much the same.

"We have the same attitude [like what we had in Bangladesh], the same determination and the same fight, and we want to keep that discipline. As a Test team, we are on a great path with guys going and grabbing opportunities to score runs, and on a great path to play teams in the Test arena."

One aspect that stood out for West Indies during their Test series in Bangladesh was the way their batsmen handled the hosts' spinners. Bangladesh played four spinners - including the left-arm spin of the veteran Shakib Al Hasan and Taijul Islam, and offspinners Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Nayeem Hasan - in the first Test where West Indies chased down a massive 395 on the final day.

Sri Lanka have also arrived with their own bunch of spinners, having at their disposal the variety provided by left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya, legspinner Wanindu Hasaranga and offspinner Dhananjaya de Silva. But Brathwaite sounded confident of repeating what his side did in Bangladesh, and wanted his batsmen to "trust themselves".

"We came from Bangladesh facing a lot of spin throughout the whole day [of a Test]," he said at the prospect of facing spin for a long duration. "So pretty much the plans won't change; I just want the guys to trust themselves. We came out with different plans how we want to go about each bowler - whether a pacer or a spinner - and the main thing is that we are not taking it for granted. We're not thinking that we won't get spin here. They have some quality spinners, but we have plans to go about each bowler and we're going to trust them 100% - as simple as that.

"In terms of the combination, we'll decide a little later. But the team is ready to go to be honest. They're confident, there's intensity in the nets."

INDIANAPOLIS -- Joe Pleasant slowed his breath and calmed himself.

In the most pressure-packed moment of his college career for Abilene Christian, Pleasant's two free throws were perfect from a spot where he'd struggled in the past.

When he intercepted a final desperation pass from Texas, then Pleasant and the rest of his teammates erupted in a celebration that spilled off the court and nearly into the stands.

Another double-digit seed is moving on in the NCAA tournament, and this one at the expense of the flagship school in Abilene Christian's home state.

"We just beat the University of Texas. Little ol' Abilene Christian out in West Texas built a program that went toe to toe with University of Texas and it's an incredible story," Wildcats coach Joe Golding said. "It's what March is about."

Abilene Christian and its frantic, havoc-causing defense bounced coach Shaka Smart and Texas out of the NCAA tournament in the first round yet again, as the 14th-seeded Wildcats stunned the third-seeded Longhorns 53-52 on Saturday night.

Pleasant, a 58.8% foul shooter on the season, made a pair of free throws with 1.2 seconds left, and the Wildcats shocked their in-state rivals in the first meeting between the schools.

Pulling off one final upset in a first round filled with two years' worth of excitement, Abilene Christian (24-4) became the fourth team seeded 13th or lower to reach the round of 32 in this NCAA tournament, joining 15th-seeded Oral Roberts and No. 13 seeds Ohio and North Texas.

"We needed March Madness, man. We needed some type of normalcy to our country," Golding said. "We needed people to fill out brackets. We needed people to cheer for the underdog."

There was plenty of cheering for the Wildcats by their fans clad in purple as they caused all kinds of headaches for the bigger, more talented Longhorns and got just enough offense to pull off their first NCAA tournament victory in their second appearance.

Pleasant finished with 11 points as did Coryon Mason for the Wildcats. Abilene Christian was blown out by Kentucky two years ago when it made its first trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Now, the Wildcats will face No. 11 seed UCLA in the second round Monday.

"I felt like two years ago, we were kind of happy to be there as a first-time experience," Pleasant said. "Then this team, we're ready to take on another challenge, not just to be here but to compete, to get some wins."

Andrew Jones scored 13 points for Texas (19-8) and was nearly the hero. Jones hit two free throws with 56 seconds left and his 3-pointer with 14 seconds remaining put the Longhorns in front 52-51.

ACU had one more chance. Damien Daniels drove to the basket but his shot was blocked by Kai Jones. Pleasant was first to get his hands on the rebound and Matt Coleman III was called for a foul, causing Smart to drop to his knees on the sideline.

"It was a loose ball. We both went for it. He got to the ball first and he threw it up and they called a foul on me. The ref called foul so I guess it was a foul," Coleman said.

After a timeout, Pleasant calmly hit both free throws. Then he intercepted a final desperation pass by Texas at midcourt, turning it into the Longhorns' 23rd turnover of the game and setting off a wild celebration that spilled off the court.

Pleasant waved his arms toward the crowd, egging on fans to make some noise and cupping his hand to his ear before being mobbed by teammates. Other players flexed toward ACU supporters in the stands of Lucas Oil Stadium that were definitely not socially distanced during the celebration.

"I was visualizing the free throws going in before I shot them," Pleasant said. "I was just trying to key in on the rim, just lock in and block out the noise."

There were heroes throughout for the Wildcats. Daniels, all of 5-foot-7 and 140 pounds, missed his first eight shot attempts but muscled through a foul to score on a drive with 3:42 left. The three-point play gave the Wildcats a 50-47 lead. Reggie Miller made one of two free throws to push the lead to four.

Texas went nearly four minutes without scoring before two free throws by Jones with 56 seconds left -- foul shots that needed a pause to clean blood off the court.

Miller committed a turnover on ACU's next possession and Jones' 3 seemed set to be a perfect March moment after the Texas junior missed time earlier in his career after being diagnosed with leukemia.

Instead, the Longhorns are headed home with their third first-round exit under Smart, which will only raise the heat on his standing in Austin.

"A lot of tears in the locker room right now," Smart said. "A lot of guys extremely upset about the way the game ended, the fact that we have to go home now. Really disappointed, everybody is."

Texas was rolling coming into the NCAA tournament after winning the Big 12 Tournament for the first time in school history. The Longhorns had won five straight overall and eight of 10 following a midseason slump.

But the Longhorns were too careless and too impatient against the Wildcats' swarming defense.

It was ugly, physical basketball, exactly the formula for the Wildcats to pull off the upset. They had the seventh-best scoring defense in the country this season, giving up just 60 points per game. They smothered Nicholls State in the Southland Conference title game, holding them to 45 points in a 34-point victory.

Texas was held 23 points below its season average. The 23 turnovers were a season high, and the Longhorns took 27 fewer shots than ACU.

"It just doesn't feel real. I feel like I'm trying to wake up from a bad dream," Coleman said.